𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 - Harry Potter x Fem!Reader¹

3.. THE KNIGHT BUS

Y/N was several streets away before she collapsed onto a low wall in Magnolia Crescent, panting from the effort of dragging her trunk. She sat quite still, anger still surging through her, listening to the frantic thumping of her heart.

But after ten minutes alone in the dark street, a new emotion overtook her: panic. Whichever way she looked at it, she had never been in a worse fix. She was stranded, quite alone, in the dark Muggle world, with absolutely nowhere to go. And the worst of it was, she had just done serious magic, which meant that she was almost certainly expelled from Hogwarts. Forget Hogsmeade — she had broken the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Witchcraft so badly, she was surprised Ministry of Magic representatives weren't swooping down on her where she sat.

Y/N shivered and looked up and down Magnolia Crescent. What was going to happen to her? Would she be arrested, or would she simply be outlawed from the wizarding world? She thought of Hermione, Harry, and Ron, and her heart sank even lower. Y/N was sure, now that she was practically a criminal, none of them would want to help her. Hermione and Ron were both abroad, and Harry was probably miles away. Even if she could reach Harry, how could she explain what had just happened? Would he even understand? With Daniyar gone, she had no means of contacting any of them. Would her best friends be scared of her if they found out what happened?

She couldn't help imagining the looks on their faces when they found out — Hermione looking horrified, maybe already flipping through the laws Y/N had broken in her head — Ron wide-eyed and speechless, staring at her as if she were dangerous — and Harry... Harry might try to help, but would he think she was reckless? Stupid for not keeping her temper?

Y/N didn't have any Muggle money, either. There was a little wizard gold in the money bag at the bottom of her trunk, but the rest of the fortune her parents had left her was stored in a vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank in London. She'd never be able to drag her trunk all the way to London. Unless...

She looked down at her wand, which she was still clutching in her hand. If she was already expelled (her heart was now thumping painfully fast), a bit more magic couldn't hurt. She had the Invisibility Cloak she had inherited from her father — what if she bewitched the trunk to make it feather-light, tied it to her broomstick, covered herself in the cloak, and flew to London? Then she could get the rest of her money out of her vault and... begin her life as an outcast.

It was a horrible prospect, but she couldn't sit on this wall forever, or she'd find herself trying to explain to Muggle police why she was out in the dead of night with a trunkful of spellbooks and a broomstick.

Y/N opened her trunk again and pushed the contents aside, looking for the Invisibility Cloak — but before she had found it, she straightened up suddenly, looking around her once more.

A funny prickling on the back of her neck had made Y/N feel she was being watched, but the street appeared to be deserted, and no lights shone from any of the large square houses.

She bent over her trunk again, but almost immediately stood up once more, her hand clenched on her wand. She had sensed rather than heard it: someone or something was standing in the narrow gap between the garage and the fence behind her. Y/N squinted at the black alleyway. If only it would move, then she'd know whether it was just a stray cat or — something else.

The garage door gleamed under the streetlight, and between them Y/N saw, quite distinctly, the hulking outline of something very big, with wide, gleaming eyes.

Y/N gasped and backed away. Her legs hit her trunk and she tripped.

Her wand flew out of her hand as she flung out an arm to break her fall, and she landed, hard, in the gutter. There was a deafening BANG, and Y/N threw up her hands to shield her eyes against a sudden blinding light —